Slytherin Included
by Rtnwriter
Summary: In fourth year Harry learns that he has no choice but to take a date to the Yule Ball and immediately asks the most important girl in his life to be his date. What happens when she has a secret to tell him before she can accept his invitation?


**Author's Notes: Hola, gang. So, this is just a little one shot I put together a little while back for a prompt from a facebook group. The idea was a Harry/Hermione pairing with a third and was supposed to be about 1,000 words in length. This is obviously a little more than that and I thought I'd throw it up here for people to peruse. I MIGHT at some point in the future re-write this into a larger first chapter for a multi-chapter story but I can't promise and even if I do it won't be for a while. **

**Disclamier: I own not Harry Potter or any part of it.**

**Hope you guys enjoy.**

Slytherin Included

by,

Rtnwriter

Harry Potter sat at one of the student desks in an unused classroom, watching with a bemused air as his best friend, the girl of his dreams, paced anxiously back and forth in front of the dusty teacher's desk. Her hands twisted and twined together even as she chewed incessantly on her bottom lip, a nervous habit he'd always found very cute.

"Herm-"

"Not now, Harry," she cut him off, spinning sharply to face him. "I'm sorry, just… please can you be patient a moment?"

Honestly, patience was not one of his strong suits, but for Hermione, he would master the skill if necessary.

_So… how did asking Hermione to be my date to the Yule Ball come to this?_ He wondered idly as she resumed her pacing.

Just minutes before, he'd been told by Professor McGonagall that he needed a date to the Ball as one of the Champions and immediately he'd taken the chance to approach the most important person in his life. She'd stared at him blankly for a moment before she suddenly grabbed his arm and dragged him into this room, muttering only, "I need to tell you something."

She hadn't said much since and he was actually beginning to worry.

Just as he was about to insist that she tell him what was going on, the door suddenly opened and a figure breezed into the room, wand already in hand and casting locking and privacy charms at the door after she closed it behind her.

"Merlin's bloody beard," she snapped. "Malfoy is just getting more insufferable every day!"

"Daphne?" Hermione called, a warning tone in her voice and the girl, Daphne Greengrass, Harry realized, turned around, her cold blue eyes widening for a moment when they landed on him.

For a few seconds she seemed puzzled but then her expression cleared, back to the placid calm mask that she typically wore and she turned toward his best friend, one slender brow arched questioningly.

"What's all this?" she asked, moving over to lean against the desk, putting Hermione between her and Harry.

Hermione resumed pacing again.

"Harry… first I really want to thank you for inviting me to the Ball, I can't begin to tell you how much that means to me, and I would love to go with you… there's, well there's just a slight complication that you need to be aware of. I'm really not sure, I mean… I don't know how to…"

Daphne suddenly let out an exasperated sounding sigh as Hermione rambled nervously and she stepped away from the desk, planting herself in Hermione's path and when next the bushy haired witch turned a pair of small hands cupped her cheeks and Harry's eyes widened dramatically as Daphne Greengrass, Slytherin Ice Queen, pulled his best friend into an emotional, heated kiss.

A soft moan escaped Hermione's mouth and her arms came around the other witch, as if by instinct, clutching the girl close to her for the few seconds that their kiss lasted.

"Why'd you go and do that?" Hermione asked breathlessly as Daphne pulled away from her, her eyes hooded and cheeks flushed.

"Because you weren't going to get to the point any time soon and we need to move on."

Daphne leaned up and kissed the tip of Hermione's nose before she turned in the girls arms, pressing her back to his friend's front, as she pulled Hermione's arms tighter around her middle.

"Potter," she said, her tone cool and collected. "Hermione and I have been dating since the middle of last year. We became friends first by working together in Arithmancy and Ancient Runes and things just progressed from there."

Harry frowned, a stabbing sensation running through his chest and slowly rose to his feet.

"I'm happy for you, Hermione, really," he said, attempting to keep the pain he was feeling out of his tone. "But honestly, just turning me down would have been better than this… this show you two decided to put on." He shuffled his feet nervously for a moment before shoving his hands in his pockets and starting for the door.

"Potter! Sit!"

At Daphne's sharp command Harry actually jumped, startled by her outburst, and sat at the nearest desk without even thinking about it.

"Harry _why_ did you ask me to the Ball?" Hermione asked, her eyes fixed intently on him.

"I… huh?"

"Why? Just to go with someone you know as a friend? Because you figured I would be an easy person to ask or I'd be grateful to even get an invite?"

"No, absolutely not!" he burst out, climbing instantly to his feet again.

"Sit!"

He sat, blinking slightly in surprise before he shook his head and turned his attention back to his best friend.

"I would never treat you like that or think that of you, Hermione," he insisted. "You're beautiful, and brilliant, and generally amazing. Anyone would be lucky to have you as their date."

"But why did _you_ ask me?"

He shifted about nervously for a moment before he sighed and set his hands on the desk in front of him. "Because I've wanted to ask you out for a long time now and I just couldn't find the nerve to say it," he admitted, staring at the scarred and pitted surface of the desk under his hands. "When McGonagall said I absolutely _had_ to have a date… I decided I could use the opportunity to try to gauge if you felt anything more for me than just friendship."

"I told you, Granger."

"Yes, yes, you'll get your forfeit later," Hermione teased and Harry could hear just how pleased she was, causing him to cautiously look up to the two girls.

"Harry," Hermione started, her eyes dancing happily. "I've been in love with you since second year, but I never thought you'd be interested in me."

"And from what I've heard of you from Hermione… I'll be honest, I wouldn't be against getting to know you a _lot_ better, Potter." Daphne's expression was curious, thoughtful, something he'd rarely seen from the usually emotionless seeming girl. "I've had a bit of a crush on you since first year, and you've become rather handsome as you've gotten older," she said as if in answer to some unspoken question.

"Wait… what?" Harry's head was spinning. Something seemed to be on offer here but he wasn't entirely certain he was reading the situation correctly.

"Harry, I would love to go to the Yule Ball with you, and I would love to be your girlfriend, but you just need to know that if you want me, then that includes Daphne. I love her just as much as I love you."

"So… you want us to share you?"

Hermione smiled and shook her head, her bushy curls bouncing back and forth. "No, I want to share Daphne with you. I want Daphne to share you with me, and me with you. I… we," she added, indicating Daphne beside her. "Want all three of us to be together."

Harry blinked several times, looking back and forth between the two beautiful girls standing in front of him.

"Daphne and I don't even know each other," he pointed out, though not really as a means to continue discussion, merely voicing his thoughts aloud. "But honestly… if you care so much for her I can't imagine that she's anything short of amazing." He focused his attention on Daphne for a moment, glancing her up and down quickly before returning his attention to her cool blue gaze.

There was nervousness behind her cold irises. She was nervous, anxious. This obviously meant _something_ to her though what, and how much, he couldn't really say.

Harry stood and moved out into the room a few steps closer to the girls, his eyes shifting back and forth from one to the other. "Well… I think that Daphne and I should spend some more time together getting to know each other, but other than that I can't see any reason to say no. I'd have to be an idiot to turn down two beautiful girls offering to be with me."

He suddenly staggered back, his arms filled with an ecstatically squealing Hermione Granger. Squealing which cut off when she sealed her mouth to his and Harry's world narrowed down to encompass nothing but the girl in his arms and everything that he felt for her.

When she pulled back he found himself drawn into another pair of arms and a very different, but no less pleasant, pair of lips claimed his mouth in a soft kiss.

It was some minutes before he was able to collect himself and he realized he had one arm wrapped around either girl as they were pressed against his chest, their own arms wrapped around each other.

"Hermione?" he asked, his face buried in her wild, bushy hair.

"What, Harry?"

"Is there any rule that says a champion can only have _one_ date to this Yule Ball?"

Hermione lifted her head, one corner of her mouth quirking up into a small grin. "No, I saw no such rule while I was researching the Tournament."

"And is there any rule that says a champion can't take _two_ dates, specifically?"

She shook her head, eyes glimmering with merriment even as he noticed a smirk twisting Daphne's lips. "No, Harry. No such rule."

"Then would the two of you do me the great honor of both accompanying me as my dates to the Yule Ball?"

Harry didn't _think_ either of them ever answered him with words. But the five minutes spent with one pair of lips or another pressed against his own was answer enough, he thought.


End file.
